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“The Office” starts by depicting Michael Scott as a bumbling and offensive regional manager. From there, he quickly shifts to a more pathetic character who can’t get out of his own way when it comes to romance. (Jan’s obsessive, destructive behavior doesn’t help, either.) It isn’t until the fading moments of season 4 that Michael first starts to find true, transformative love in the arms of an unsuspecting HR rep from the Dunder Mifflin Nashua branch: Holly Flax.
The surprising thing is that Holly was actually never supposed to become a major part of Michael’s love life. Instead, she was supposed to be more of a one-hit wonder. On the Office Ladies podcast (which has become the source for all behind-the-scenes stories for the show), Pam and Angela actors Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey interviewed Holly actress Amy Ryan for the episode Business Ethics with Amy Ryan.
In the conversation, they discovered that Ryan’s agent was approached by the show at the same time that she had expressed interest in joining the cast. (She thinks the mutual interest happened within the same week.) This led to her joining as a potential love interest for Michael, but originally for just one episode. In her own words:
“I don’t remember reading a script. I remember hearing it was one episode only and a potential love interest, which obviously, I knew was code for ‘we’ll see how you do, kid, if we have you back.”
Clearly, there wasn’t a multi-season plan in place. Holly’s initial role was little more than a ray of light in Michael’s apocalyptic, post-Jan love landscape. But it ended up being so much more.
Amy Ryan’s The Office role ended up being critical after season 4
It takes Holly less than one episode to transform Michael’s negative view of HR and its personnel. Still, it appears her initial role was to do little more than prove someone out there actually could like Michael Scott in a romantic sense. The inspiration for this short but important purpose comes from the original British series — or at least, that’s what Amy Ryan thinks. She explained on the “Office Ladies” podcast:
“I remember also, because I was a big fan of the British series, David finally gets a woman who likes him, too. So it was loosely based, I think, on her for the first episode, and then our group took it to a different level.”
That “different level” was a quirky love story for the ages. Holly returns in season 5 for several episodes before David Wallace catches onto her and Michael’s blossoming romance and unceremoniously ships her back to Nashua. From there, Michael plummets into the doldrums for the rest of season 5, all of season 6, and half of season 7 — at which point he discovers that Holly is temporarily returning. (It’s a Christmas miracle!)
Michael wins back Holly’s heart, they fall in love, and then they discover that her parents need help back in Colorado. And just like that, Michael Scott has found his true love and left his career at Dunder Mifflin (even if Steve Carell wasn’t necessarily ready to leave his character in the same way). The fallout of Holly’s presence on the show is nothing short of transformative, which is quite a lot of influence for a character who was originally supposed to be around for a single episodic appearance.
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